Floor-covering.



nu. 7|5,|55. Patented Dec. 2, |902.

J. SANDERS. FLOOR COVERING.

(Appl: t led Baye 1902) UTTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH SANDERS, OF VASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, ASSIGNOR TO EMILE BERLINER, OF VASHINGTON, DISTRICT OE COLUMBIA.

FLOOR-COVERING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 715,155, dated December 2, 1902.

Application led May 6, 1902. Serial No. 106,144. No model.

To @ZZ whom t may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOSEPH SANDERS, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Washington, District of Columbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Floor-Coverings, of which the followingis a specication.

My invention has reference to improvements in door-coverings consisting of matting-such as straw, grass, or artificial matting-with a sheet or layer of a special compound mass applied to its under surface, so as to be anchored therein, and which serves as a strengthening-backing to the matting. The single pieces of backed iioorcovering are cut in geometrical forms, which when fitted together produce the effect of parquetry, and they are assembled upon and secured to an elastic assembling-sheet, as will appear farther on.

This invention is an improvement upon a similar backed door-covering described in a prior patent granted to Emile Berliner on March 2l, 1899, under No. 621,316. In accordance with the said priorpatent the backing to the matting is made of a substance which is applied in a plastic state and which hardens partly by evaporation and partly by oxidation of the liquids employed in composing the mass of the backing. This hardening or seasoning process naturally consumes a considerable time, and in practice it was found that during this period the backed door-covering shrunk and Warped, and the shrinkage and warpage continued for a long time after the backing to all appearances had become seasoned. In consequence of this shrinking and warping the pieces would not fit closely together when assembled and even when iitting together, if assembled upon the door shortly after they were made, they would shrink and warp for a long period afterward, making the wearing-surface uneven and eX- posing the edges of the individual pieces. My invention is designed to overcome these and other defects by making the backing of a substance which is adhesive and plastic under moderate heat, but becomes firm under ordinary temperature, whereby the period of seasoning is limited to the short time required for cooling the backing. A mass of this chartemperatures.

acter if once cooled will neither shrink nor warp.

The great-er part of the substance of the new backing material which I employ consists of refractory bodies, in consequence of which the material is practically non-combustible.

The accompanying drawing shows a perspective view of a number of sheets of my improved iioor-covering joined together upon an assembling-sheet to form an aesthetic design.

In the drawing, A represents the patterned wearing-surface of matting.

B represents the' backing-sheet, and C the elastic assembling-sheet.

The principal feature of my invention is the backing-sheet. It is composed of an intimate mixture of asbestos fiber, mineral wool, Whiting, baryta, or similar cheap and preferably refractory substances, with resin. To this may be added paraffin-oil or other non drying oils. The asbestos ber and the mineral Wool are subdivided and are heated and stirred into the molten resin or mixture of resin and oil until the whole becomes a practically homogeneous mass. I have found the following proportions of materials to give excellent results: mineral Wool, ten pounds;asbestos,three pounds,and resinous compounds, nine pounds. Each of these substances gives to the compound mass a special peculiarity. The asbestos besides being highly refractory is flexible and imparts flexibility to the compound. The mineral Wool is rather brittle in long fibers or flakes; but being used in a divided state its brittleness is not imparted to the compound. It acts merely as a filler-a refractory iiller-a cheap substitute for asbestos; and it may be replaced by Whiting, baryta,or other like substances. The resin conveys to the compound the characteristic of becoming plastic and adhesive under heat and firm under ordinary When an oil is added, this would render the mass less brittle. From this it will be seen that the proportion of materials above stated is not a fixed one, but may be varied considerably, according as it is desired for a given purpose or for a given market to emphasize one or the other charac- IOO teristic of the compound. The mixture produced by these materials in these quantities gives a semitransparent or translucent mass which quickly hardens when cooled and is then neither brittle nor adhesive. When, heated, however, this mass is quite adhesive and plastic. The mixture thus produced is While still hot and in asemiplastic condition rolled into sheets of suitable thickness, and the matting is then laid with its under side upon these backing-sheets in a moderatelyheated press, and the two are forced together, whereby the plastic backing enters the interstices of the matting and becomes anchored in the fibers of the latter, so that the two become inseparably united. The article is preferably allowed to cool in the press. The backed floor-covering is then cut into the desired geometrical form. The cut edges of the matting are rendered waterproof by applying to them melted paraffin, resin, linseedfoil, shellac, or any other suitable waterprooing material. In this condition the article maybe sold as an independent article of manufacture.

The backing substance composed and made as described is characterized by moderate flexibility and hardness without brittleness. It is, moreover, non-hygroscopic. The fact that this mass becomes adhesive when mod.- erately heat-ed is a feature of importance for the assembling of the sheets of backed iloorcovering, so as to form pleasing designs. For this purpose the sheets cut into geometrical forms are laid with the backing-surface downward upon an elastic assembling-sheet of felt or felt paper in a suitable frame in a heated press. The pieces are assembled with reference to their individual designs or with reference to the grain of the matting, so as to produce the desired ornamental effect. The assembled pieces are then pressed down upon the assembling-sheet, which latter will now tenaciously adhere to the under side of the backing. In this condition the article is ready for the market and forms a Hoor-covering which is not subject to warping, which accomodates itself perfectly to slight unevenness of the floor, which is impenetrable to moisture, and which may be washed with im pu nity without danger of warping.

It is evident that this article may be used with particular advantage as a wainscot or ceiling and in many other Ways, and I desire it'to be understood that by the term floorcovering I mean to include such and other uses of the new article.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A matting backed by a material characterized by being at all times plastic and adhesive under heat and firm and non-adhesive under ordinary temperatures, substantially as described.

2. A matting backed by-a material consisting of divided refractory substances united by a resinous binder, substantially as described.

3. A matting backed by a material consisting of an intimate mixture of a molten mass of resin and paraffin-oil with divided asbestos and mineral wool, or its described equivalents, substantially as described.

4. A backed Hoor-covering, consisting of a wearing-surface of matting, and a backingsheet of a compound that is at all times plastic and adhesive under heat and rm and nonadhesive when cold, anchored to the fibers of the matting wearing-surface, substantially as described.

5. A parquetry Hoor-covering, consisting of matting and a backing of aresinous compound anchored to the bers of the matting, substantially as described.

6. A parquetry oor-covering, consisting of a sheet of matting and a backing of a compound of asbestos, mineral .wool or its described equivalent, resin and paraffin-oil, anchored to the fibers of the matting, substantially as described.

7. A door-covering consisting of sheets of matting cut to geometrical forms, backed by JOSEPH SANDERS.

Witnesses:

F. T. CHAPMAN, EDWIN S. CLARKsoN.

IOO 

